Published June 1999
by Sponsored Projects Administration
Research Organization
Fiscal year 1998 continued to be a time of great challenge and change in the University of Minnesota research enterprise. Sponsored research expenditures increased to $344 million, up by approximately 10% from 1997. This increase is substantially higher than the University of Minnesota's pattern of increases for the past several years. This increase in expenditures is a promising indicator that our faculty and professional research staff are competing well for externally funded research support. Expenditures using federal funds increased by 10.5% (total amount $247M); state and local government sponsored expenditures increased by 6.6% (total amount $28M); sponsored expenditures from the private sector increased by 9.7% (total amount $68M).
The National Institutes of Health continues to be the major source of sponsored research funding ($128M, an increase of 3.3%) at the University. This past year was somewhat unusual in that the second largest source of sponsored research expenditures was the Department of Defense ($34.6M) which provided twice as much research support to the University of Minnesota than in FY97. The National Science Foundation continues to be a strong supporter of the University of Minnesota ($32.9M, an increase of 7.6%).
The Medical School continues to receive the largest fraction of external research funding at the University with FY98 sponsored research expenditures of $109M (an increase of 4.4%). It is followed by the Institute of Technology at $84M (an increase of 28.3%), the School of Public Health at $37M (up 4.7%), the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences at $14.5M (up 6.4%), the College of Education and Human Development at $12.5M (up 5.9%) and the College of Biological Sciences at $12.4M (up 13.3%).
Fiscal year 1998 was also very successful for technology transfer at the University. Forty-one patents were granted during this time, and 78 technology transfer agreements were completed. Another measure of success is that 8 startup companies were established as an outcome of our faculty efforts in technology transfer. Commercialization of university technologies supports the educational and research missions of the University of Minnesota and is a key component of our service mission. Efforts to move university discoveries and technology from the laboratory to the marketplace address the need to make those technologies available to benefit the public. For these reasons, President Yudof has emphasized the need to increase the effectiveness of the technology transfer activities and we are in the process of implementing a plan for significantly enhancing technology transfer.
While the "exceptional organization" designation imposed on the University by the National Institutes of Health in August 1995 remains in place as of this writing, we are hopeful that the substantial improvements being implemented by the University will lead to its removal by the end of 1999. On April 15, 1999, an executive briefing by President Yudof and other senior officials signaled their support of the new sponsored projects management model. We anticipate that NIH will conduct an official site visit during fall 1999 to verify that the corrective actions have been taken and that systems are operating effectively. After that visit, we expect the designation to be removed.
In spite of difficulties experienced with respect to the NIH and the impact this has had on our administrative procedures, the information presented in this report documents that the level and trend in sponsored activity of our faculty continues to move upward. The scholarly work of our faculty continues to be excellent. We anticipate that the improvements resulting from the Sponsored Projects Management Project will substantially enhance the research climate at the University of Minnesota by making the infrastructure more supportive of research and assuring the highest of ethical standards. As the competition intensifies for the best researchers and scholars and the funding to support their endeavors, the University is well positioned to continue as a world-class research, learning, and outreach institution.
Christine M. Maziar
Vice President for Research and Dean, Graduate School
Edward F. Wink
Associate Vice President,
Sponsored Projects Administration
Many of the University of Minnesota's research, teaching, and public service activities are funded by grants and contracts from external sponsors. The major sponsors are federal and State of Minnesota agencies, private foundations, associations, and industry.
This report focuses on the externally supported research, training, and public service programs administered by Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA). Excluded from most tables are noncontract funds, including departmental research funds, special federal and state appropriations for research, and student aid (totals for these categories are included in Tables 1 and 2). Also excluded are gifts to the University, which are administered and reported by the University of Minnesota Foundation and the Minnesota Medical Foundation.
This report includes a section describing activity in Patents and Technology Marketing, which has been a part of SPA since 1983. Called technology transfer, this facet of the University's outreach mission is becoming increasingly important, as the nation and state look to university researchers as the source of new knowledge, ideas, and technologies needed to maintain economic growth and industrial competitiveness.
In fiscal 1998, SPA administered $343.5 million in sponsored research, training, and public service expenditures, a 9.9 percent increase from fiscal 1997 funding of $312.3 million. Research expenditures comprised 74 percent of the total, or $256.0 million, as compared to 79 percent of the total, $247.3 million in fiscal 1997. Training and public service programs constituted the remaining 26 percent, or $87.4 million.
Funding for sponsored projects in the Academic Health Center increased from $161.6 million, 52 percent of 1997 sponsored funding, to $168.8 million in fiscal 1998, 49 percent of the total. Sponsored research expenditures by the Academic Health Center increased 5 percent, from $138.8 million to $145.7 million, while training and public service expenditures increased 2 percent, from $22.8 million to $23.2 million.
Medical School sponsored expenditures increased 4 percent, from $104.3 million to $108.9 million. Sponsored expenditures in the School of Public Health rose 4 percent, from $35.7 million to $37.3 million. The Institute of Technology experienced an increase of 28 percent, from $65.4 million to $84.0 million. The College of Education and Human Development increased 6 percent, from $11.8 million to $12.5 million.
Federal agencies funded $247.5 million, comprising 72 percent of the total fiscal 1998 sponsored expenditures just as it did in fiscal 1997. National Institutes of Health expenditures rose from $124.1 in fiscal 1997 to $128.3 million in fiscal 1998. National Science Foundation expenditures increased from $30.5 million to $32.8 million. U.S. Department of Defense expenditures more than doubled increasing from $17.1 million to $34.6; increased expenditures were for equipment on the Army High Performance Computing Resource Center (AHPCRC). Department of Education expenditures dropped slightly from $7.7 million in fiscal 1997 to $7.6 million in fiscal 1998.
State and local agencies supplied 8 percent, or $28.5 million, of fiscal 1998 sponsored expenditures at the University, compared to 8 percent and $26.7 million in 1997. State special appropriations for research in fiscal 1998 totaled $48.9 million, down from $49.6 million in 1997.
Private sources remained a constant 20 percent of expenditures, $67.5 million in fiscal 1998 and $61.5 million in 1997. Private sources include business and industry, associations, foundations, and individuals. Industrial sponsorship of research, training, and public service has grown from $5.1 million in fiscal 1983, 4.4 percent of that year's total, to $29.0 million in fiscal 1998, or 9 percent of the total.
Proposal activity is a good indication of how much effort is expended by faculty, staff, and administration to obtain funding for sponsored programs. As proposals submitted in one year are generally not funded until the next year, comparing a single year's proposals submitted and awards received does not provide an accurate indication of proposal success rates.
University faculty submitted 4,061 proposals requesting $824.5 million, an increase of 132 proposal submissions for an additional $126.4 million dollars. Total Academic Health Center proposals decreased in numbers but increased in amount requested by $47 million, proposals totaling $383.2 million. A significant increase in numbers and dollars requested was experienced in the Institute of Technology as well; proposal submissions totaling 602 proposals for $137.6 million in fiscal 1997 and increasing to 711 proposal submissions for $204.7 million in fiscal 1998.
Seventy-three percent of fiscal 1998 proposals were for new programs. Continuation proposals are usually awarded for the full amounts requested, because funding has previously been committed. New proposals, however, have a somewhat lower success rate. We cannot yet determine the success rate for fiscal 1998 proposals, since award or rejection of proposals may take more than a year. As of December 31, 1998, however, 47 percent of fiscal 1998 proposals had been awarded, for 76 percent of the amount requested.
Over the past ten years, submission of proposals by University faculty has shown a steady upward trend, increasing from 3,194 proposals in fiscal 1988 to 4,061 in fiscal 1998. Amounts requested have also increased substantially, from $546 million in fiscal 1988 to $824.58 million in fiscal 1998.
Award data represent agency commitments to fund specific research, training, and public service projects at given levels for stated periods. While these data provide interesting information on future funding, they are not reliable for year-to-year comparative analyses. For reliable conclusions regarding the University's sponsored programs, award data need to be considered in conjunction with expenditure data, which account for dollars actually spent. In fiscal 1998, the University received 2,953 awards for a total of $350 million, an increase of 3 percent in number and 2 percent in amount from fiscal 1997.
The University of Minnesota is one of the leading recipients of federal research, training, and public service support. According to the most recent report available from the National Science Foundation (NSF) as this publication went to press, the University of Minnesota was ranked 10th among all U.S. universities in total research and development science and engineering expenditures in 1997.
Another measure used to compare institutions is based on total federal obligations to universities and colleges. This indicator increased from $14.3 billion to $15.0 billion from FY 1996 to FY 1997, the most recent year for which data are available. In FY 1997, the University of Minnesota ranked 8th in total federal obligations and 8th in federal R&D obligations for science and engineering. This compares to University of Washington (5th), University of Michigan (2nd), and University of Wisconsin (3rd).
Technology transfer activities at the University continue to grow as companies seek new research discoveries on which to base future improvements and products.
The number of inventions disclosed dropped slightly from 148 in fiscal 1997 to from 144 in fiscal 1998. In fiscal year 1997, 41 U.S. patents were issued on our faculty inventions and assigned to the Regents of the University of Minnesota, down from 66 in 1997. In fiscal year 1997, the University of Minnesota ranked 4th among U.S. universities in patents issued.
While the number of patents issued to a university's faculty is a good indication of how committed the university is to seeking patent protection for its inventions, the number of technology transfer agreements (licenses) with companies is a better indication of the quality of those patented inventions. The University of Minnesota had a cumulative total of 352 active technology license agreements with industry through fiscal year 1998.
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Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA)